Movie museums around the world

Feb. 24, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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This Oct. 17, 2012 rendering released by AMPAS/Renzo Piano Building Workshop shows the Concept Phase of the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, designed by architects Renzo Piano and Zoltan Pali, with a view from Fairfax Avenue looking north in Los Angeles. ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Visitors walk through an exhibit during the unveiling of "Tim Burton: The Exhibition" at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image on June 23, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia. SCOTT BARBOUR, GETTY IMAGES

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Atmosphere at The Museum of the Moving Image on January 11, 2011 in the Queens borough of New York City. JANETTE PELLEGRINI, GETTY IMAGES

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Atmosphere at The Museum of the Moving Image on January 11, 2011 in the Queens borough of New York City. JANETTE PELLEGRINI, GETTY IMAGES

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Atmosphere at The Museum of the Moving Image on January 11, 2011 in the Queens borough of New York City. JANETTE PELLEGRINI, GETTY IMAGES

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General view of atmosphere of the 5th Annual Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking at the Museum of the Moving Image on January 11, 2012 in the Queens borough of New York City. JEMAL COUNTESS, GETTY IMAGES

This Oct. 17, 2012 rendering released by AMPAS/Renzo Piano Building Workshop shows the Concept Phase of the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, designed by architects Renzo Piano and Zoltan Pali, with a view from Fairfax Avenue looking north in Los Angeles.ASSOCIATED PRESS

The long-awaited museum dedicated to Southern California's most iconic industry – Hollywood – is in production, but you'll have to wait a few years, till 2016. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will be dedicated to the history and future of film. Housed in the landmark May Company Wilshire building, it will be part of the neighboring L.A. County Museum of Art campus that includes the La Brea Tar Pits. Southern Californians and tourists alike will be able to learn more about cinema and the city of the stars. The academy's collection includes more than 140,000 films, 10 million photographs, 42,000 original film posters, costumes, props and moviemaking equipment.

Until then, here's a collection of museums around the globe dedicated to motion pictures.

NEW YORK

Astoria, Queens:The Museum of the Moving Image's exhibits are dedicated to film, television and digital media. Housed in the former East Coast home of Paramount Pictures, the venue was the first in the country devoted solely to its subject. It offers a view of technological evolution through audio/visual exhibitions, the most popular of which is an interactive booth that allows you to record your own voiceovers and sound effects into familiar movies.

Panel discussions about current movies are frequently held, with directors and actors in attendance. The next discussion takes place Feb. 28 with Park Chan-wook, director of the cult favorite "Oldboy" and the upcoming "Stoker."

Melbourne:Located in Federation Square, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image is a four-level museum dedicated to the preservation, exhibition and promotion of Victorian, Australian and international screen content.

The Screen Worlds installation dissects the study of images into multiple sections, such as emergence, voices, sensation, games lab and a kids' space. The exhibition "Hollywood Costume" opens April 24 with iconic and rarely seen items, including the "little black dress" designed by Givenchy for Audrey Hepburn's Holly Golightly in "Breakfast at Tiffany's," and the high-tech Batman suit worn by Christian Bale in "The Dark Knight Rises."

The ACMI Cinemas present regular programming for children as well as restored classics and a popular Desert Island Flicks, a monthly series at which celebrities reveal the Top 5 films they would pack if banished to such a remote location.

Amsterdam:The EYE Film Institute and Museum features permanent exhibits, art installations and screening rooms. Collections include 46,000 film titles, 35,000 posters and 450,000 photographs dating to 1895, the start of the film industry in Holland. Admission to the basement is free with interactive, car-like booths offering multimedia quizzes, a panorama room and private viewing capsules.

Four cinemas regularly screen classic and modern films from around the world.

London:Located in the former Lambeth Workhouse (where Charlie Chaplin lived as a child), the Cinema Museum collection offers items relating to film production, exhibition and the cinema-going experience from its early days until today.

Memorabilia such as posters, art deco cinema chairs, ushers' uniforms from the '40s and '50s, tickets and popcorn cartons can be viewed.

Odessa:The Museum of the Cinema is in a historic mansion. More than 10,000 works are on display as testimony to the cinematic transformation that took place pre- and post-World War II. The city's famous steps were immortalized in Sergei Eisenstein's "Battleship Potemkin."

The venue's staff continuously studies and catalogs new material, and many visitors are able to witness their preservation process.

Thessaloniki:The Thessaloniki Cinema Museum works to preserve, gather and display items that have helped form movie life in Greece. Exhibits include cine-cameras, projectors, hand-produced cinema posters and photographs from more than 2,000 films.

In the archive, visitors can sift through information about film festivals and public showings that have occurred since 1985.

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